Life is all about finding the amazing.
I'm on day seven of my food detox and have decided it's pretty bad when you have to eat one of your children's chewable gummy bear vitamins because it looks better than chocolate cake. Well, it may not look better than chocolate cake, but since you can't have chocolate cake on a detox go for the vitamins!
I made "Berry Yummy Flax Muffins" last night. My mom sampled one and said, "Well, the good thing about these muffins is you will never want to eat a second one."
The amazing truth? I feel so good. I feel like myself again. The sluggishness that results from lack of exercise and too many bites of chocolate cake is disappearing. Let's eat a Berry Yummy Flax Muffin to celebrate!
We're celebrating teeth in the Silvera household. Jordan lost his first two teeth two days in a row shortly after school started. He was elated, telling Maddi that when you lose two teeth you get five dollars from the tooth fairy. Jordan knows this because our neighbor boy told him about inflation and how you get bills now instead of coins for teeth. Maddi thought Jordan should get ten dollars, but Jordan corrected her and said it doesn't work that way. I think the tooth fairy was happy.
I ordered more BELIEVE books this week for a speaking engagement in October. Helping me slide the shipment into our entryway, Jordan asked, "Are there stolen car parts in here?"
How I love time with my amazing kids.
Last week I took Jordan alone to look at new bikes with me. The one I've had since college broke and I've been eager to upgrade. Walking into the shop Jordan told me, "I like 'Mommy and Jordan' day. If daddy were still in life then you could stay home with Maddi and I could have a ' Daddy and Jordan' day."
He tells me this as if we are at the library and he's explaining that if we were at McDonalds he could order a cheeseburger instead of a checking out a book about cheeseburgers. But, I know the sentiment goes much deeper. Like when we were making cards this weekend out of scrapbooking supplies. Jordan decided to make one for his "dad in heaven." He decorated it with stickers and letters and decortive colors. "Do you think dad'll like it, Mom? Do you think he's gonna send something on down when he gets it?" He thinks about his dad daily, in the most minute interactions to the gaping holes that we carry in our hearts.
For the five year anniversary of Shawn's death, my neighbor made us a quilt out of a blue-gray dress that wore when I lived in Honduras and one of my favorite shirts that Shawn used to wear in Minnesota–a checkered flannel. I love the contrast and the blend. It's filled with emotion–bittersweet.
Jordan said that Beth is a good "sewer" and that he wants her to 'be in a different job or be in retirement' making people quilts because she is so excellent at it and it would make a lot of people happy. She is excellent at it. She is one of those people that amaze me.
In my email box last night, my friend Jodi, a single mom wrote to share about the ups and downs of raising a child alone. The other night she was putting a picture into a frame that holds K-12 school photos when her son, Justin, who is in seventh grade said, "It's over half-way filled." She cried and told me it's all bitter-sweet. I'm taking CliffsNotes. I don't want to take too much time to learn this lesson.
So tonight I rubbed Jordan and Maddi's backs until they fell asleep. I let the seconds that were adding up in my mind telling me there was something more important in my house waiting for my attention, to fade into minutes. The circular motion of my hand on their backs put us both under a spell. I want to remember this night. I want to remember the days that my children are small. I want to be able to say, "I see you."
I don't want them to grow too fast. I know they will. According to Maddi, "if you're in Kindergarten and color really really good you can skip to second grade." I hope she continues to color outside the lines for awhile. She amazes me.
Driving by a garage sale on the way home from the bike shop Jordan pointed and asked, "Could we stop there and see if we could find anything amazing?"
All around us life fills us with amazing. Find something amazing…1-2-3 start looking.
